Journeying Back Home
Barcelona's present
Jewish population
almost equals that
of the pre-expulsion era.
TOM TUGEND SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH TIMES
arcelona — With
the arrival of 94-
year-old Alberto
Arditti, the oldest
Jew in Barcelona,
a minyan is pre-
sent and Rabbi
Gabriel ElFassi, a Sephardic Jew
from Morocco who is dressed like
a Lubavitcher chasid, opens the
Shabbat service.
The sanctuary of the Mai-
monides synagogue, with a cen-
tral bimah and lit by nine
handsome brass and crystal
chandeliers, is for Sephardic
worshipers. Upstairs is the
much smaller Ashkenazi chapel,
in use only during the High Holy
Days.
Housed in the same building
are the offices of the Commu-
nidad Israelita de Barcelona
(Jewish Community of
Barcelona), a mikveh, library,
kosher snack bar and auditorium
for concerts and lectures. The
community supports or super-
vises a Sephardic day school at-
tended by 110 boys and girls, an
impressive sports complex, and
a kosher butcher store.
When the building was dedi-
cated on Rosh Hashanah in 1954,
it was the first synagogue erect-
ed on Iberian soil since the ex-
pulsion of the Jews in 1492.
Before 1954, the regime of dicta-
tor Francisco Franco had allowed
Jewish prayer meetings in pri-
vate homes, but worshipers had
to obtain a separate government
permit for each Shabbat service,
recalls Leon Sorenssen, the com-
munity's executive director.
Today, official registration fig-
ures list 485 heads of Jewish
households in Barcelona, which
Mr. Sorenssen multiplies by an
average of 4.5 family members to
arrive at a Jewish population of
about 2,200 — about 20 percent
13
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Tom Tugend is a writer in Los
Angeles.
of the 12,000 Jews in all
of Spain. Barcelona's
present Jewish popu-
lation, in fact, nearly
equals that of the
pre-expulsion era,
and is likely to re-
main at roughly the
current level in the
foreseeable future.
Of Barcelona's pre-
sent community, 75
percent is Sephardic
and the remaining 25
percent Ashkenazi.
The latter consists
mainly of descendants
of Central European
refugees, who arrived
during and after World
War II. The first wave
of Sephardim arrived \
from Turkey and Bulgar-
ia at the end of World
War I, and now consti-
tutes some 30 percent of
the Sephardic communi-
ty. The bulk of Sephardim
hail from Morocco and
started arriving in
Barcelona after that coun-
try declared its indepen-
dence in 1956.
Although the initial
Sephardic immigrants have
now produced two or more
generations of Spanish-born
descendants, they are still
divided between the "Turks"
and the "Moroccans."
An uncertain number of
Jews, estimated between
500 and 700, have never af-
filiated with the communi-
ty. Primarily from Argentina
and other Latin American
countries, they fled up-
heavals in their native coun-
tries in the 1980s.
Intermarriage between
Sephardim and Ashkenaz-
im is a rarity; between Jews
and gentiles it is practically
unknown.
"Whenever we start wor-
A L6 eR
rying that a Jewish boy or
girl is getting too friendly
with an outsider, we send
them to Israel," said Mr.
Sorenssen.
The age distribution of
Barcelona's Jews is un-
known, but the numbers of
life-cycle events points to
an aging but still viable
community. In? 1993, ac-
cording to Mr.
Sorenssen, there were
about seven circum-
cisions, four to five
b'nai mitzvot, an
equal number of
weddings, and be-
tween 15 and 20 fu-
nerals.
Most of the
Sephardic immi-
grants started as
small shopkeepers or
tradesmen, but their
children and grandchil-
dren, like those of the
Ashkenazim, have gone
to college and become
doctors, lawyers and oth-
er professionals. There
are few millionaires and
none of the immense con-
trasts in wealth found in
other Hispanic Jewish
communities, such as Mex-
ico City's.
Anti-Semitism is all but
unfelt, because "most peo-
ple here have never seen a
Jew in their lives and have
no idea what a Jew is," ob-
served Mr. Sorenssen. "We
sometimes get visits from
high school classes and
they'll ask questions like
Why don't you look differ-
ent?' or 'Why did you kill
God?' Their ignorance is
unbelievable."
Names don't mean any-
thing, either. As Mr.
Sorenssen said, "If your
name is Moshe Cohen and
your grandfather came
from Turkey, then you're
considered a Turk, not a
Jew."
Mr. Sorenssen got his
unlikely Scandinavian sur-
name through his father,
who emigrated from Ger-
many to Norway, where he
changed his name, before
moving on to Spain. His
mother is of Moroccan de-
scent and he considers
himself part of the
Sephardic community.